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New Osotspa unit to push health drinks

By Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn
The Nation
Published on August 7, 2008

Osotspa, Thailand's leading manufacturer of phar¬maceutical and consumer products, yesterday unveiled its Health and Functional Beverage Marketing Department, which will target the grow¬ing number of healthconscious consumers.

The department will work closely with local and international research institutes to develop innova¬tive and functional drinks aimed at providing natu¬ral, highperformance health benefits.

Pratharn Chaiprasit, senior deputy managing director of Osotspa, said the department would focus on creating new beverages catering to the increasing trend of healthconscious consumers in growing urban populations.

He added that the move followed the trend in developed markets such as the US and Japan.

The new department will be under the umbrella of Osotspa's conventional drink products, one of its three key product groups. The others are phar¬maceuticals and consumer products.

"Health and functional beverages will be prod¬ucts that Osotspa focuses on today and in the future. We want to see a significant growth in this new department," said Pratharn.

He said Osotspa expected overall revenues in its current fiscal year to reach about Bt20 billion. Sixty per cent will be from its conventional drink products, 30 per cent from consumer goods and 10 per cent from pharmaceuticals.

Yordmit Tongyonk, manager of the Health and Functional Beverage Marketing Department, said there was currently no standout player in the Thai functional beverage segment due to the high cost of both research and development and marketing communications. He said the department's busi¬ness philosophy was to focus on four key ele¬ments: innovation, highly healthy products, the natural provision of health benefits, and the offer of genuine benefits backed by scientific evidence.

"We will launch at least one new functional drink this year, with a new brand," said Yordmit, adding that target consumers would be at the medium to topend of the market.

The department will allocate Bt400 million annually to build awareness of the products.

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New Osotspa unit to push health drinks

Osotspa, Thailand's leading manufacturer of phar¬maceutical and consumer products, yesterday unveiled its Health and Functional Beverage Marketing Department, which will target the grow¬ing number of healthconscious consumers.

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